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| The word '''''mythology''''' (from the ] {{lang|grc|μύθολογία}} ''mythología'', from {{lang|grc|μυθολογείν}} ''mythologein'' to relate myths, from {{lang|grc|μύθος}} ''mythos'', meaning a narrative, and {{lang|grc|λόγος}} ''logos'', meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of '''myths''' – stories that a particular ] believes to be true and that use the ] to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. In modern usage, "mythology" is either the body of myths from a particular culture or religion (as in '']'', '']'' or '']'') or the branch of knowledge dealing with the collection, study and interpretation of myths, also known as ]. | |||
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| ==Term== | |||
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| The term ''mythology'' has been in use since the 15th century, and means "an exposition of myths". The current meaning of "body of myths" itself dates to 1781 ] (OED).<ref>In extended use, the word can also refer to collective or personal ] or ] received wisdon, as in "At least since Tocqueville compared American society to 'a vast lottery', our mythology of business has celebrated risk-taking." (2000 '']'', 29 May 2000)</ref> The adjective ''mythical'' dates to 1678. ''Myth'' in general use is often interchangeable with ] or ], but some scholars strictly distinguish the terms.<ref>Doyle</ref> The term has been used in English since the 19th century. The newest edition of the OED distinguishes the meanings | |||
| }} | |||
| : 1a. "A traditional story, typically involving supernatural beings or forces or creatures , which embodies and provides an explanation, ], or justification for something such as the early history of a society, a religious belief or ], or a natural phenomenon", citing the ] of 1830 as the first English attestation<ref>Earlier editions of the OED also present this quote as the earliest attestation of ''myth'', but consider it an example of the definition corresponding to definition 2.</ref> | |||
| : 1b. "As a mass noun: such stories collectively or as a genre." (1840) | |||
| : 2a. "A widespread but untrue or erroneous story or belief" (1849) | |||
| : 2b. "A person or thing held in awe or generally referred to with near reverential admiration on the basis of popularly repeated stories (whether real or fictitious)." (1853) | |||
| : 2c. "A popular conception of a person or thing which exaggerates or idealizes the truth." (1928) | |||
| In contrast to the OED's definition of a myth as a "traditional story", many folklorists apply the term to only one group of traditional stories. By this system, traditional stories can be arranged into three groups:<ref>Glenn</ref><ref>Segal, p. 5</ref><ref>Zong, p. xxi</ref> | |||
| * myths - sacred stories concerning the distant past, particularly the creation of the world; generally focussed on the gods | |||
| * legends - stories about the (usually more recent) past, which generally include, or are based on, some historical events; generally focussed on human heroes | |||
| * folktales/fairytales (or ''Märchen'', the German word for such tales) - stories whose tellers acknowledge them to be fictitious, and which lack any definite historical setting; often include animal characters | |||
| Religious-studies scholars often limit the term "myth" to stories whose main characters "must be gods or near-gods".<ref>Segal, p. 5</ref> | |||
| Some scholars disagree with such attempts to restrict the definition of the word "myth". The classicist G. S. Kirk thinks the distinction between myths and folktales may be useful,<ref>Kirk, p. 37-41</ref> but he argues that "the categorizing of tales as folktales, legends, and proper myths, simple and appealing as it seems, can be seriously confusing".<ref>Kirk, p. 22</ref> In particular, he rejects the idea "that all myths are associated with religious beliefs, feelings or practices".<ref>Kirk, p. 11</ref> The religious scholar Robert A. Segal goes even farther, defining myths simply as stories whose main characters are "personalities — divine, human, or even animal".<ref>Segal, p. 5</ref> | |||
| A popular meaning (which English ''myth'' shares with Greek {{polytonic|μῦθος}}) of a ], misconception or mistaken belief, is in marked contrast to the meaning "stories of deep cultural or spiritual significance". In this article, the term is used in the latter sense, detached from the notion of historical truth, throughout. | |||
| ==Characteristics== | |||
| ] are a type of water imp and are considered to be one of many ] (literally "water-deity").]] | |||
| Historically, the important approaches to the study of mythological thinking have been those of ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], and the ].<ref>Guy Lanoue, Foreword to Meletinsky, p.viii</ref> | |||
| Myths are narratives about divine or heroic beings, arranged in a coherent system, passed down ]ally, and linked to the spiritual or religious life of a community, endorsed by rulers or priests. Once this link to the spiritual leadership of society is broken, they lose their mythological qualities and become ] or ]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Simpson & Roud|title=Dictionary of English Folklore| year=2000| pages= 254}}</ref> In ], which is concerned with the study of both ] and ] narratives, a myth also derives some of its power from being more than a simple "tale", by comprising an ] quality of "]".<ref>"I believe that legends and myths are largely made of 'truth', and indeed present aspects of truth that can only be received in this mode." ], '']'', no. 147.</ref> | |||
| Myths are often intended to ] the universal and local beginnings ("]s" and "]s"), natural phenomena, inexplicable cultural conventions or ]s, and anything else for which no simple explanation presents itself. This broader truth runs deeper than the advent of critical history, and it may or may not exist as in an authoritative written form which becomes "the story" (preliterate oral traditions may vanish as the written word becomes "the story" and the literate class becomes "the authority"). However, as ] puts it, "The primitive mentality is a condition of the human mind, and not a stage in its historical development."<ref>{{cite book|last=Mâche|title=Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion| year=1992| pages= 8}}</ref> | |||
| Most often the term refers specifically to ancient tales of historical cultures, such as ] or ]. Some myths descended originally as part of an oral tradition and were only later written down, and many of them exist in multiple versions. According to ] in the eighth chapter of ''Introduction to Philosophy and Mythology'', "Mythological representations have been neither invented nor freely accepted. The products of a process independent of thought and will, they were, for the consciousness which underwent them, of an irrefutable and incontestable ]. Peoples and individuals are only the instruments of this process, which goes beyond their horizon and which they serve without understanding." Individual myths or mythemes may be classified in various categories: | |||
| *''Ritual myths'' explain the performance of certain ]s or patterns and associated with ]s or centers of worship. | |||
| *''Origin myths'' (]) describe the beginnings of a custom, name or object. | |||
| *'']'', which describes how the world or universe came into being. | |||
| *''] myths'' are often seen as explanations for elaborate festivals that magnify the power of the ]. | |||
| *''Prestige myths'' are usually associated with a divinely chosen king, hero, city, or people. | |||
| *''Eschatological myths'' are stories which describe ] to the present world order of the writers. These extend beyond any potential historical scope, and thus can only be described in ''mythic'' terms. Apocalyptic literature such as the New Testament '']'' is an example of a set of eschatological myths. | |||
| *''Social myths'' reinforce or defend current social values or practices. | |||
| *the ] myth, which concerns itself with the pranks or tricks played by ] or heroes. Heroes do not have to be in a story to be considered a myth. | |||
| Middleton argues that, "For ], myth is a structured system of signifiers, whose internal networks of relationships are used to 'map' the structure of other sets of relationships; the 'content' is infinitely variable and relatively unimportant."<ref>{{cite book|last=Middleton|title=Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion| year=1990| pages= 222}}</ref> | |||
| ==Religion and mythology== | |||
| {{main|Religion and mythology}} | |||
| Significantly, none of the scholarly definitions of "myth" (see ]) imply that myths are necessarily false. In a scholarly context, the word "myth" may mean "sacred story", "traditional story", or "story about gods", but it does ''not'' mean "false story". Therefore, scholars may speak of "religious mythology" without meaning to insult religion. (For instance, a scholar may call ] and ] scriptures "myths" without meaning to insult Christianity and Islam. The Christian apologist ] made a clear distinction between myth and falsehood when he referred to the life of Christ as a myth "which is also a fact" <ref>Lewis, ''God In The Dock'', p. 66</ref>) However, this scholarly use of the word "myth" may cause confusion and offense, due to the popular use of "myth" to mean "falsehood". | |||
| Many myths, such as ritual myths, are clearly part of religion. However, unless we simply ''define'' myths as "sacred stories" (instead defining them as "traditional stories", for instance), not all myths are necessarily religious. As the classicist G. S. Kirk notes, "many myths embody a belief in the supernatural but many other myths, or what seem like myths, do not".<ref>Kirk, p. 11</ref> As an example, Kirk cites the myth of ], which is "only superficially associated with religion or the supernatural", and is therefore not a sacred story.<ref>Kirk, p. 11</ref> (Note that folklorists would not classify the Oedipus story as a myth, precisely because it is not a sacred story.<ref>Dundes, p. 45</ref>) | |||
| Examples of religious myths include: | |||
| * the Hebrew creation account in '']'' | |||
| * the Mesopotamian '']'', a creation account around which the Babylonians' religious New Year festival revolved<ref>Eliade, ''The Sacred and the Profane'', p. 77</ref> | |||
| * an Australian myth describing the first sacred ] ritual<ref>Reed, p. 33-36</ref> | |||
| ==Related concepts== | |||
| Myths are not the same as ]s, ]s, ]s, ]s, ]s or ], but the concepts may overlap. Notably, during ], folktales and fairy tales were perceived as eroded fragments of earlier mythology (famously by the ] and ]). Mythological themes are also very often consciously employed in ], beginning with ]. The resulting work may expressly refer to a mythological background without itself being part of a body of myths (]). The ] in particular plays with this process of turning myth into literature. ] refers to the process of rationalization of myths, putting themes formerly imbued with mythological qualities into pragmatic contexts, for example following a cultural or religious ] (notably the re-interpretation of pagan mythology following ]). | |||
| Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time, for example the ] and the ], based on historical events of the 5th and 8th centuries, respectively, were first made into ] and became partly mythological over the following centuries. "Conscious generation" of mythology has been termed ] by ]<ref>{{cite book|last=Tolkien|title=The Monsters and the Critics| year=1997| publisher=HarperCollins; New Ed edition| ISBN=026110263X}}</ref>, and was notoriously also suggested, very separately, by Nazi ideologist ]. | |||
| ==Formation of myths== | |||
| ] said of Greek myth: "True myth may be defined as the reduction to narrative shorthand of ritual mime performed on public festivals, and in many cases recorded pictorially." (''],'' Introduction). Graves was deeply influenced by Sir ]'s ] ''],'' and he would have agreed that myths are generated by many cultural needs. Myths authorize the cultural institutions of a tribe, a city, or a nation by connecting them with universal truths. Myths justify the current occupation of a territory by a people, for instance. All cultures have developed over time their own myths, consisting of narratives of their history, their religions, and their heroes. The great power of the symbolic meaning of these stories for the culture is a major reason why they survive as long as they do, sometimes for thousands of years. Mâche distinguishes between "''myth'', in the sense of this primary psychic image, with some kind of ''mytho-logy'', or a system of words trying with varying success to ensure a certain coherence between these images<ref>{{cite book|last=Mâche|title=Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion| year=1992| pages= 20}}</ref>. ] is one of the more famous modern authors on myths and the history of ]. His book '']'' (1948) outlined the basic ideas he would continue to elaborate on until his death in 1987. | |||
| ==Myths as depictions of historical events== | |||
| ] (also Mamallapuram), ]; detail of the central part, the complete relief is 9 m high and 27 m wide.]] | |||
| As discussed above, the status of a story as myth is unrelated to whether it is based on historical events. Myths that are based on a historical events over time become imbued with symbolic meaning, transformed, shifted in time or place, or even reversed. One way of conceptualizing this process is to view 'myths' as lying at the far end of a continuum ranging from a 'dispassionate account' to 'legendary occurrence' to 'mythical status'. As an event progresses towards the mythical end of this continuum, what people think, feel and say about the event takes on progressively greater historical significance while the facts become less important. By the time one reaches the mythical end of the spectrum the story has taken on a life of its own and the facts of the original event have become almost irrelevant. A classical example of this process is the ], a topic firmly within the scope of ]. The extent of a historical basis in the Trojan cycle is disputed, see ].{{Fact|date=April 2007}} | |||
| This method or technique of interpreting myths as accounts of actual events, ] ], dates from antiquity and can be traced back (from Spencer) to ]'s ''Histoire sacrée'' (300 BCE) which describes the inhabitants of the island of Panchaia, ''Everything-Good'', in the Indian Ocean as normal people deified by popular naivety. As Roland Barthes affirms, "Myth is a word chosen by history. It could not come from the ''nature'' of things". <ref>{{cite book|last=Mâche|title=Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion| year=1992| pages= 20}}</ref> | |||
| This process occurs in part because the events described become detached from their original context and new context is substituted, often through analogy with current or recent events. Some Greek myths originated in Classical times to provide explanations for inexplicable features of local cult practices, to account for the local ] of one of the ], to interpret depictions of half-remembered figures, events, or to account for the deities' attributes or ]s, even to make sense of ancient icons, much as myths are invented to "explain" heraldic charges, the origins of which has become arcane with the passing of time. Conversely, descriptions of recent events are re-emphasised to make them seem to be analogous with the commonly known story. This technique has been used by some ] in America with text from the ], notably referencing the many ] in the Book of Daniel and the ] especially. It was also used during the Russian Communist-era in propaganda about political situations with misleading references to class struggles. Until ] the fitness of the ] was linked to his mythical descent from the ] ], ].{{Fact|date=April 2007}} | |||
| Mâche argues that euhemerist exegesis, "was applied to capture and seize by force of reason qualities of thought, which eluded it on every side."<ref>{{cite book|last=Mâche|title=Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion| year=1992| pages= 10}}</ref> This process, he argues, often leads to interpretation of myths as "disguised propaganda in the service of powerful individuals," and that the purpose of myths in this view is to allow the "social order" to establish "its permanence on the illusion of a natural order." He argues against this interpretation, saying that "what puts an end to this caricature of certain speeches from May 1968 is, among other things, precisely the fact that roles are not distributed once and for all in myths, as would be the case if they were a variant of the idea of an 'opium of the people.'" | |||
| Contra Barthes Mâche argues that, "myth therefore seems to choose history, rather than be chosen by it" <ref>{{cite book|last=Mâche|title=Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion| year=1992| pages= 21}}</ref>, "beyond words and stories, myth seems more like a psychic content from which words, gestures, and musics radiate. History only chooses for it more or less becoming clothes. And these contents surge forth all the more vigorously from the nature of things when reason tries to repress them. Whatever the roles and commentaries with which such and such a socio-historic movement decks out the mythic image, the latter lives a largely autonomous life which continually fascinates humanity. To denounce archaism only makes sense as a function of a 'progressive' ideology, which itself begins to show a certain archaism and an obvious naivety."<ref>{{cite book|last=Mâche|title=Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion| year=1992| pages= 20}}</ref> | |||
| ] <ref>Researchers include Dwardu Cardona (author of '''' ISBN 1-4120-8308-7), Ev Cochrane ('''' {{Listed Invalid ISBN|0-9656229-0-9}}), ] (), David Talbott and ('''' ISBN 0-385-11376-5), and authors at </ref> such as ] believe that myths are derived from the oral histories of ancient cultures that witnessed "cosmic catastrophes". The catastrophic interpretation of myth, forms only a small minority within the field of mythology and often qualifies as pseudohistory. Similarly, in their book ''Hamlet's Mill'', Giorgio De Santillana and Hertha Von Dechend suggest that myth is a "technical language" describing "cosmic events", <ref>{{cite book|last=Santillana & Dechend|title=Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth| year=1990| pages= 222}}</ref> | |||
| ==Modern mythology== | |||
| Film and book series like '']'' and '']'' have strong mythological aspects that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. These items are not mythology, but contain mythic themes that, for some people, meet the same psychological needs. '']'' is a term coined by ] for the conscious attempt to create myths; his '']'' was to be an example of this, although he did not succeed to bring it to publication during his lifetime. Film and book series like '']'' and '']'' have strong mythological aspects that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. These items are not mythology, but contain mythic themes that, for some people, meet the same psychological needs. | |||
| In the ] ] published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process of their creation in his book '']''. Swiss psychologist ] (1873-1961) and his followers also tried to understand the psychology behind world myths. | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| <div style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"> | |||
| <references/> | |||
| </div> | |||
| ==References== | |||
| <div style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"> | |||
| * Dundes, Alan. "Binary Opposition in Myth: The Propp/Levi-Strauss Debate in Retrospect". Western Folklore 56 (Winter, 1997): pp. 39-50. | |||
| * ], ''Mythologies'' (1957) | |||
| * Kees W. Bolle, ''The Freedom of Man in Myth''. Vanderbilt University Press, ]. | |||
| * Reed, A. W. ''Aboriginal Myths, Legends and Fables''. Chatswood: Reed, 1982. | |||
| *], '']'' (1880s). | |||
| * Caillois, Roger (1972). ''Le mythe et l'homme''. Gallimard. | |||
| * ], '']''. Princeton University Press, ]. | |||
| * ] | |||
| **''Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return''. Princeton University Press, ]. | |||
| **''The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion''. Trans. Willard R. Trask. NY: Harper & Row, 1961. | |||
| *], '']'' (1890). | |||
| * Louis Herbert Gray , ''The Mythology of All Races'', in 12 vols., 1916. | |||
| *], '']'' (1998) | |||
| * ] | |||
| **''Mental Functions in Primitive Societies'' (1910) | |||
| **''Primitive Mentality'' (1922) | |||
| **''The Soul of the Primitive'' (1928) | |||
| **''The Supernatural and the Nature of the Primitive Mind'' (1931) | |||
| **''Primitive Mythology'' (1935) | |||
| **''The Mystic Experience and Primitive Symbolism'' (1938) | |||
| * Charles H. Long, ''Alpha: The Myths of Creation''. George Braziller, ]. | |||
| *] '''' (Translated by Guy Lanoue and Alexandre Sadetsky, foreword by Guy Lanoue) 2000 Routledge ISBN 0415928982 | |||
| * Barry B. Powell, "Classical Myth," 5th edition, Prentice-Hall. | |||
| * Santillana and Von Dechend (1969, 1992 re-issue). "Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth", Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-87923-215-3. | |||
| * ] | |||
| **''Introduction to the Philosophy of Mythology'', 1856. | |||
| **''Philosophy of Mythology'', 1857. | |||
| **''Philosophy of Revelation'', 1858. | |||
| * Segal, Robert A. ''Myth: A Very Short Introduction''. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004 | |||
| * Welker, Glenn. "Stories/Myths/Legends". Indigenous Peoples Literature. 14 August 2004 <http://www.indigenouspeople.net/stories.htm>. | |||
| * Zǒng In-Sǒb. ''Folk Tales from Korea''. Elizabeth: Hollym International, 1982 | |||
| * Kirk, G. S. ''Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures''. Berkeley: Cambridge UP, 1973 | |||
| </div> | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| {{wiktionarypar2|myth|mythology}} | |||
| {{wikiversity|School:Comparative Mythology}} | |||
| ;General: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] - Colombian folklore | |||
| ;Mythological archetypes: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], | |||
| ;Myth and religion: ], ] (] and ]), ], ] | |||
| ;Lists: ], ], ], ], ] | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by comparative mythology by John Fiske. | |||
| * Information about myths, legends and folklore, as well as a message board. | |||
| * . | |||
| * An interactive learning website. | |||
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